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PC Speed

What makes a faster PC? PC speed depends upon the CPU speed, the size of memory or RAM, and the graphics board speed. These three factors determine how quickly the PC responds to your actions.

CPU speed is measured in GHz. GHz is faster than MHz and the larger the number the better the PC performance. Newer PCs run at speeds between 2.0 GHz and 3.8 GHz. However an older PC running at 1.2 GHz is adequate for the task of surfing the web, writing email, and developing resumes. The CPU itself can have some impact on PC performance, but humans would not really notice the impact of using a CPU with a single core Vs. a CPU with dual or quad cores. A core is a single processor, dual cores are 2 processors and quad core is 4 processors. More cores mean a higher price. There is a diference in the price of a single core Pentiun Vs. a duo core Pentium. Quad cores run even higher prices.

A PC is a virtual machine. It thinks that it has a larger brain than it actually has. When it starts, it loads programs into its brain (the memory). As the brain fills, the PC must remove some information from its brain by writing notes to itself that it leaves on a table (the disk drive). As more and more information is loaded into the brain, other information must be removed and written into notes on the table. When the PC wants to return to work it was doing, it must write some new information on note, place that note on the table and then read information from other notes on the table (disk drive). PCs do this continually to permit their brain size to match the work they do for us. They continually swap information between memory (RAM) and the disk drive. The larger the RAM, the less swapping is performed and the faster the PC.

A critical amount of memory is greater than 512 MB. Memory size works like this. If it takes 1 second to do a task with 128 MB, then 256 MB reduce the time to .75 second, but 512 MB would only reduce the time to .6 second. More memory is faster but a lot more memory is just a little faster (not a lot faster). PC memory of 2 GB is sufficient. PC memory of 256 MB or 512 MB needs to be increased. The memory module size to purchase is 1GB or 512 MB because they is are common sizes sold, and they typically work in all PCs. Larger 1 GB MB memory modules may not work in your PC and they most certainly will not work in older PCs.

Graphics cards should be PCIexpress or AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) cards. PCIexpress and AGP are the mechanism to transfer the screen image updates from the PC to the graphics card. PCIeexpress transfers are faster than AGP transfers. Graphics cards with more memory (512 MB Vs. 128 MB) and a higher transfer speed (16X Vs.8X Vs.4X) make a PC most responsive to our requests.

Disk drives provide the ability to permanently retain information. They unnoticeably contribute to the PCs speed. For most PCs 120 GB of disk storage is more than adequate. Larger drives are useful if you are storing photos and music. Sometimes a large drive is divided (partitioned) into two separate drives. Be sure that each division (partition) is at least 120 GB if they are accessible by Windows. Smaller partitions could make an otherwise large disk drive less usable. I ran across a PC with a drive C: that was a 13 GB partition chocked to the rafters with Windows programs and data and a drive D: 100 + GB partition that was empty. This PC was running out of disk space on a 120 GB drive that was mostly empty. Older slower drives are EIDE - Extended Integrated Drive Electronics or PATA - Parallel AT Attachment drives. The newer faster drives are SATA - Serial ATA drives that run at 1.5 Gbps or 3.0 Gbps transfer speeds.

If you are thinking of a new PC, the cheapest of PCs provides CPU speed, RAM, and graphics card capabilities that make it perform sufficiently for surfing the web, writing email, and creating resumes. More power (and higher cost) may be helpful when digital photography and music are important applications. The most performance increasing and cost effective PC upgrade is increasing RAM to 256 MB. If you already have 256 MB, there is no need to spend money on added memory. No need to over do on performance when you’re PC works just fine for you.


Link to CPU Speed Pro

P. D. Moulton and Dial A Nerd, a local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD) PC repair, computer repair, laptop computer repair, Wi-Fi network and wired LAN network configuration & repair, Windows XP repair, Windows Vista repair, Windows 7 repair, network server computer support, and virus & spyware removal. Dial-A-Nerd repairs PC (s), computers, networks, removes viruses & spyware and upgrades slow computers 24 hours a day 7 days a week. DialANerd provides immediate remote access as well as fixed price computer repair, network repair, virus & spyware removal services at its local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD) repair shop. Repair completion is typically 24-hours to 48-hours. Dial A Nerd recovers hard disk data and saves your data. Each hard disk is tested for errors for free. Dial A Nerd makes a fixed disk image, recovers and saves your data for about a 90% of the desktop computer, laptop computer, and netbook PC (s) serviced. Dial A Nerd, a local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD) repair business provides fast PC repair, computer repair, desktop computer repair, laptop computer repair, Wi-Fi network and wired LAN network configuration & repair, Windows XP repair, Windows Vista repair, Windows 7 repair, network server support, and virus & spyware removal services with a warranty. Dial A Nerd works on many PCs including Sony computers, Gateway computers, Hewlett Packard computers, Compaq computers, Toshiba computers, Emachines computers, Clone PCs, and Dell computers in the local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD). The Dial A Nerd mission is delivering the best quality, affordable cost effective PC repair, computer repair, laptop computer repair, desktop computer repair, Wi-Fi network and wired LAN network configuration & repair, Windows XP repair, Windows Vista repair, Windows 7 repair, network server support, virus & spyware removal, home PC repair, printer configuration, PC - desktop computer - laptop computer - netbook computer performance optimization & speed up service. Homes and small businesses with limited IT service and IT support budgets in the local Columbia, Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland(MD) hire Dial A Nerd.


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